


Stagnant Respite

by DeviousMachinations



Series: Flock Rising [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-17
Updated: 2014-08-17
Packaged: 2018-02-13 10:31:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2147376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeviousMachinations/pseuds/DeviousMachinations
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jake English has lived in the city of Becker all of his life, a famed city heralded by the Crocker Corporation and one of the government's leaders that established the town as a semi-dictatorship. But for Jake it's day in, day out with nothing changing until one day the tram he takes to work every morning gets switched due to an emergency. What he doesn't know is this one chance he tries to be brave and put himself in danger is the day he recieves a mysterious gold business card, giving him access to the highest tiers in Crocker Corp's popular cyberspace game, The Landscape, a place where your wildest dreams can come true. The part Jake is set out to find is that The Landscape isn't all what it seems, and with a little help from the Corporation's most popular program Dirk Strider, they're about to unlock a conspiracy neither of them thought possible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stagnant Respite

**Author's Note:**

> Note if you're reading this now this is the unedited version but I wanted to post it now before I lost a bunch of my other stuff.
> 
> Better author notes will come as well! But if you're reading this for the first time enjoy! I hope to write more as well, and get this thing edited soon.

They say that when you die the last thing you see is sparks of white light, kind of like fireflies in the night, at least that was the idea. It’s the lasting beautiful image that carries you off from this world into the next. Jake had to wonder about that really, he wondered a about a lot of things in the morning, especially on one such as this one as the sunrise crept over the horizon. After all, it was just like any other day, the train was already letting more people inside as the doors sliced open.

From outside the disconcerting smell of smoke was an awful scent above the cityscape, a disgusting haze that flitted in between the towering skyscrapers in the heart of the dreary city of Becker. For all its old fame the city had used to take pride in in, there was certainly nothing special about this town anymore. The city had been the crowning achievement of the Crocker Corporation, a new and innovative city running on technology from across the country. Settled just north of the still bustling city of Los Angeles, Becker was advertised as the “way into the future”. The Corporation’s head was seated in the city and for a number of years now the quality of the city was under a constant state of 'improvement'.

Paved roads were constantly being upheaved to make way for new trains and construction that would shuttle people from here to there. Meanwhile the Crocker Corporation was running continual ads on one viewing screen to the next inside the train and outside on some nearby electronic billboards. In fact, the viewing screen was what caught Jake’s eye this particular dreary morning in April on his early tram shuttle to work. Jake liked to watch the television, hating when his eyes would wander to the grime that collected on the outside of the train’s windows and the forgotten newspapers swishing in the wind. 

What had used to be called a golden city was now a huge trash heap in Jake’s eyes save the center of the city; everything was dirty, even himself. It made him frown as he looked at his worn clothes. His old dark green t-shirt was already getting holes and the brown vest he wore over it barely kept the wind out, even when he turned up the collar. Faded dark wash jeans littered with patched up holes completed his sorry outfit and Jake clenched his hands, balling them up into fists. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair. The work that got dumped on the lowest of the social tier was the most dangerous as well, but what could they all do but sit by and let the Corporation do what it liked? It already had too much of a hand in their government and everything else.

Many, many years ago, Crocker Corp stepped onto the scene in the business world. Jake remembered the stories his grandmother used to tell him about the corporation and their eventual rise to power. It was hard to not admire the tactful way Crocker Corp inched their way into the government, taking away power slowly until it was the leader in government affairs. Nothing could stand up to the CEO head, and she was left to do whatever she wanted. Jake remembered the way his grandmother seemed to seethe with rage whenever she spoke of the CEO of Crocker Corp. It would take all of Jake’s convincing to settle his grandma down to distract her. Jake was sure that if his grandma was still with him she’d be horrified of what the world had become.

A familiar high pitched jingle snapped Jake out of his thoughts and back to the TV, he couldn’t keep count of the number of times he’d heard this song. The happy tune was for one of the Corporation’s latest baking goods, and Jake had to fight to roll his eyes. No big deal they found an easier way to cook banana bread, he thought flatly, but there was something different this time that caught his eye, a notice at the bottom of the screen. Jake watched words flying by as the ad stopped for an intercom message to read out a the caption: “All those taking the 748 tram to West Broadway should change trains at the next stop , taking the 740 tram to East Winslow due to an emergency that has happened along the line. Please do not panic, officers have been dispatched to take care of the problem.” _Oh fiddlesticks…_ Jake frowned, another delay to slow them down.

Of course it had to be the particular train Jake had chosen today to get to work. What he wouldn’t give to skip work, to go out and have a taste of something different than the monotonous life he’d fallen into. An adventure, now that’s something that sounded much more interesting! Jake knew his life had been so boring compared to his grandmother’s. Still, even since her death he had kept her old scrapbook, detailing all of the places and people she had seen. Jungles, deserts, huge cities, it was all so spectacular! And here he was, stuck in Becker pulling a lever that dispensed old junky computer parts onto a conveyor belt.

No doubt the change in lines would safely keep him out of harm’s way and back on the way to his workplace. A heavy breath escaped him; he should probably plan to change lines like the message had instructed him, but the thought was entirely too enticing as he reworked the thought once more. It wasn’t the first time emergencies like this had happened, besides what was the worst that could happen? What if he kept on the line? That thought excited Jake before the logical part of his brain chimed in, they’d probably escort him off if he stayed. But, wait. How much time did he have? A quick glance to Jake’s watch solved that problem, even with the detour he still had an hour before work started. Maybe, just this once he would try to do something a little daring. He just had to grin; he was finally going to do it. He was going to be brave and get his adventure!

Now Jake English, worker for one of the Crocker Corporation’s factories making electronic and probably the most famous for being the grandson of the eccentric Jade Harley, was not a brave man in the slightest. Every time the twenty two year old had decided to make a change and do something brave or daring it had gone horribly wrong and Jake knew this while making this decision. Just this once, he wanted something to go differently. That also meant getting over his fears and actually not just giving in to the ad’s demands.  
The rattling of the tram seemed to drive right into Jake as it drove on, the next stop would be coming up soon, the one everyone was expected to get off on. The warning sounded over the intercom again as people moved to the doors, preparing to get off at the appropriate stop as the train started to slow down. When he saw everyone moving toward the door Jake moved toward the back and waited. If they asked him to get off, he would, if not, hey, this may be exactly what he was looking for… He suddenly chided himself on that thought, no, even if he was asked off he could make up some excuse for himself to stay, he could do that right? Maybe he could talk his way into saying he was a secret police operative sent here to investigate the emergency down the line, that would be really cool. He was smiling like an idiot when he realized the train car he was in was empty and the train was moving forward again, knocking himself out of his previous mindset. No one had come in yet, maybe his luck was finally turning around!

Scrunching himself against the seat Jake grew quiet as the train rumbled towards its destination. He felt extremely excited as he looked out the window, watching a thin tendril of smoke worm through the dirty buildings covered in graffiti. Jake never minded the graffiti he saw in the slums or even on the buildings outside of the train. It looked like a beautiful urban rainbow to him, even if the words ruined the wonderful mental image, dashed with notes of filth and sex and freedom. What he mostly noticed was a familiar gang sign splashed across many of the buildings, he’d never come this far down the line before and the sign was plastered over nearly everything, a crack of lightning behind a dark crow. Everyone knew what it stood for, a small band of rebels, intent on bringing down Crocker Corp at every chance they got. It was said they were failing in their mission, and Jake frowned. His grandmother had been a huge advocate of the group, and- he stopped his thoughts there. He really hated the group that wore the gang sign, and who called themselves the Flock.

In particular, their leader was a famed figure around Jake’s neighborhood, kids pretending they were the man in question, who masqueraded himself as ‘the lone Crow’. It seemed everyone had code names in the group, but only one Crow who was the leader. Jake hated even the mention of him, but, he admitted quietly in his thoughts, he couldn’t deny the group was working towards bettering the city. Even if they were labeled as ‘terrorists’ by the corporation, Jake would throw his lot in with them over the city officials any day. Everyone knew they were corrupt. Even though the group did good things, Jake would never be able to forgive them, frowning seriously now as another of their gang signs passed his vision, spray painted over a billboard.

Now unimpressed by the urban art display, Jake turned his attention toward the viewing screens again as they’d passed the usual news broadcast into commercials again, pushing up his scratched up glasses so he could see better. Unlike many other people, Jake enjoyed the infomercials a lot. Especially the ones that were trying to sell some new gizmo or doodad that would make your life easier. He could really care less about the baking ones, but it was fascinating to see how it all worked. It looked like he had caught the tail end of one such broadcast for a plant fertilizer when the picture changed abruptly to a mention of one of Crocker Crop’s more prominent products. It was one Jake had seen before, but that didn’t leave any less amazement out of Jake’s mind as he watched it, and perhaps he had a rather dreamy look plastered to his face as he watched.  
The commercial started as a normal view of the urban city setting, Jake liked to think they had filmed it here but it was obvious it wasn’t in Becker despite it being the seat of Crocker Corp’s power. It was easy enough to tell the corporation operated from here, anyone with a moderately smart mind could tell you that, as a lot of supposed “terrorist” operations came up more frequently than anywhere else.

The fact that it was always on the baking giant’s propaganda or funded projects, this tram included it seemed. Jake pondered to himself for only a moment why the lone Crow would want to destroy this tram track in particular, after all what other kind of emergency could it be, but he chose not to dwell on it long. The commercial was one he liked, an advertisement for a special attraction funded by Crocker Corp for about ten years and still going strong, The Landscape.  
Just the thought of it sent shivers into Jake’s body as the commercial started. The Landscape was a place where your wildest desires could come true. Sex, money, fame, adventure…you name it. It was yours, for free now due to a motion passed about three years ago, and it was widely available to even people like Jake who lived out in the slummier area of the city. Now that the government had put forth a new law that extended leisurely hours the places near his home were getting extremely long waiting lists, access into the buildings was in extremely high demand. Jake himself had honestly never been, although wished he had. A lot of the time he spent in the early days of the Landscape’s development had been spent with his Grandmother in the shoddy place they’d taken up on the southern part of town. It was a bit run down, but it was home. Jake was the only one that lived there now, but he didn’t dwell on the lonely thought as the advertisement was getting to the part he liked the most.

The infomercial after explaining the mechanics of The Landscape opened up to a new screen flawlessly, a simple announcer voice explaining the role of the customer in The Landscape as it cut to black and a flash of silver cut through the middle of the screen. The camera ran along the length of what then was shown to be a blade and a pair of dark sunglasses before it zoomed out, and Jake leaned forward in his chair as if it could get him closer to the man on the screen, a little smile on his face. “Golly, what I wouldn’t give to be him,” his voice was wistful as the man shown did a small flourish of his blade, eyes completely hidden behind the quite ridiculous pointy sunglasses he wore.

Jake knew exactly who he was, Dirk Strider, or Crocker Corp’s leading ad man. He was in and on every commercial and billboard from the slums to the fancy first ring of Becker. He was another literal celebrity in the small community that Jake lived in, and you couldn’t go half a block without one girl wishing Dirk Strider was real so she could ask him out on a date. The girls would go on and on about the way Dirk moved and the way his blond bangs would fall over his glasses a little bit, while the back of his head stuck up in messy little spikes almost relatable to a bedhead… Jake shook away that thought; he was being almost as silly as those girls! The girls, if he understood correctly, always took it upon themselves to always try to request him whenever they had a chance to visit the Landscape building in their district, even when they had been told no countless times. Dirk Strider wasn’t someone you just see because you want to after all!

Jake’s admiration was different from those girls, he swore it. If anything he was jealous of the way everyone talked about him, and the adventures he must have protecting the clients of The Landscape. How cool it must be to be known as something other than his famous grandmother’s grandson. It was a stupid idea really. The commercial was nearing its end and Jake sighed, Dirk wasn’t even real. So of course he couldn’t expect to live up to such a man. Dirk was a program, a figment of the Landscape meant to protect Crocker Corp’s clients and the most popular. Nothing more than a compilation of binary code and data and he shouldn’t compare himself to an inanimate being. At least that’s what he told himself as he sighed heavily, his thoughts turning to a sad topic.

Maybe that was the reason Aranea had left him. He lacked self-confidence. Her face rose in his vision and he grumbled resting the back of his head against the cool glass of the window. Who needed her anyway…? The thought weighed heavily on him, and he frowned, feeling the slight heat of sadness rising up to his face. Oh hell no! He was not crying over this anymore. That was the past, and that was that. Stiffen up Jake, he thought, a heavy breath leaving him as he calmed down. Over two months ago was when the break-up had happened, he should be moving on by now. They had barely gotten anywhere, maybe gone on two dates and he had messed everything up.

His depressive thoughts were broken by the screeching sound of the moving train hitting the breaks hard, and the jarring sound of the tram’s sliding doors opening that connected to the other cars. Shit. Jake held his breath; he had completely forgotten that he was the only person probably still left on this train. So he did the first thing he could think of, he faked being asleep. That always worked in the movies right? If he could just act natural and just look like he was asleep the cops probably wouldn’t mark him down for disobeying the order. All the previous bravery he had had disappeared, instead it left Jake scared. It wasn’t that Jake didn’t want to be brave; it was that the police here weren’t exactly the friendliest of officers. News articles playing on the television had frequently shown cops beating and arresting citizens for disobeying the law, and Jake was just one, underfed factory worker. What could he even do against two or three fully armored cops?

The cops in question had indeed come from the opposite side of the train and had been making their way through the cars to make sure no one had been left behind. Their footsteps loudly rang in Jake’s ears as he pretended to sleep, fighting the urge to swallow hard. Suddenly he was forcefully picked up by the front of his shirt and shaken. He panicked at first, seeing a mask and hearing the cop’s hard voice echo from it, “What are you doing here? Don’t you know you were supposed to get off this train ages ago? The tracks are out due to an explosion, you could have died if we hadn’t caught wind of his train being on route for it!”

“I-I, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I must have fallen asleep sir, I really wasn’t planning on not getting off, you see it was just a long night yesterday and-” the cop holding Jake cut him off with another rough shake, about to reprimand him again when his partner laid a heavy hand on his shoulder.

“Hey man look, the guy obviously didn’t mean anything bad by staying? You know we always catch a straggler on things like this. Let’s just drop him off at the checkpoint, you can interrogate him there, no need to give the poor kid such a fright.” The cop’s partner seemed much more easygoing, and with a huff the man holding Jake shoved him back into his seat.

“Don’t you dare move until we reach the checkpoint, you hear me?” the cop leaned down as he spoke, his voice loud in Jake’s face as the dark haired man nodded vigorously. So much for being brave. He shrunk down in the seat again, immediately regretting his choice. He certainly wasn’t brave like his grandmother after all, and Jake felt like crying. There was no way he’d do that in front of the law enforcement however, all they would do would laugh at him. 

The rest of the train ride wasn’t much longer thankfully and when the train came to a creaking halt, Jake was hauled out by his arm by the loud cop from before, and once outside could see more smoke pouring out from in front of the train. His arm was starting to hurt from the rough treatment as he was half dragged across the docking platform that housed the train. It was permanently stopped there and it wasn’t long before Jake saw why. A huge gaping hole had severed the track in two, still smoking and on fire as the police down below tried to quell the flames and redirect traffic.

What fluttered in the breeze caught Jake’s attention in the wreckage, a fluttering flag with the Flock’s symbol on it, stuck in the middle of the burning tracks, also catching on fire with the severity of the flames. It was certainly a symbol that showed the Flock had power, if they could blow up part of the track and still control the burst to a small area. The flames hadn’t touched any of the residential area nearby, whether that was because of the fire department’s efforts or the Flock was left up for debate.

A heavy smack to the back of Jake’s head broke his concentration as he was led away from the burning tracks. Jake kept his head down then as the two officers walked with him down the street, only being forced to stop when the easygoing cop then mentioned he was going to check in with their squad leader, leaving Jake with just the gruff one. He knew he was probably going to be taken to a holding cell, to which then he would be interrogated as to why he had stayed on the train. If you got taken in by an officer a mark would be placed on your public record, usually not a bad thing, but for someone in Jake’s case it could mean the loss of his job. He berated himself for doing such a stupid thing, glancing up as the cop who stayed didn’t seem to be paying much attention.

He had to do something. Even if it meant something worse happening to him. There was one thing his grandma had taught him, and that was how to shake off an attacker. His grandmother was what you would call a ‘jack of all trades’ and was often mistaken for an eccentric old woman, but she taught Jake more things than he could count on both hands. Quickly Jake jerked himself in front of the cop delivering a swift punch right to his solar plexus and making the man gasp and immediately let go of Jake. The dark haired boy had to bite back a yelp of pain that had shot up in arm in the process, the officer was still wearing protective gear, and despite how strong Jake was from his job it still hurt like hell.

Jake didn’t waste time getting out of there though, scrambling away and taking off at a fast sprint down the road, hearing the officer cursing behind him. He wasn’t familiar with this area so finding a secure place to hide was going to be hard, and none of the street names were clocking in as recognizable. Eventually Jake had to stop, breathing hard as he glanced back to see the officer now recovered and slowly running towards him, holding his arm underneath his chest. Gotta hide, gotta hide, Jake’s thoughts were running wild and he ducked into one of the alleyways. He was too busy looking behind him to see if the cop was still following when he crashed head on with another person, sending them both sprawling to the ground.

Groaning, Jake looked up before seeing a beautiful girl also on the ground opposite him. He was immediately embarrassed and hurried up and over to her. “My goodness I am so sorry miss, I didn’t see you there,” the words fell out of his mouth in a rush and the girl looked up at him, obviously angry as her eyes were narrowed behind her bright pink colored glasses, a dark curtain of hair falling over her face. She wanted to respond to Jake, already poised to send a venomous retort his way before she seemed to remember what she was doing before the incident and grabbed Jake’s hand ushering him into one of the buildings. Her grip was surprisingly strong and Jake was at her mercy as she led him inside.

When Jake’s eyes adjusted to the darkness he realized this was one of the few storerooms that usually kept all of the equipment the nearby factories made before everything was shipped out. The strong girl pulled him along through the building, and Jake tried to protest, raising his voice, “Er, miss, what are you-” He was cut off with a sharp, ‘Shhh!’ and Jake fell silent.

It wasn’t far before the girl let go of him and Jake nursed his wrist, rubbing it delicately as the girl finally turned to address him, her confidence seeming overwhelming. “Now see here, you! I was on a very important stroll when you came crashing in, what do you have to say for yourself?” With a hand she pushed up her glasses with one hand and it was only then that Jake noticed how nice her clothes were and the multiple gold chained necklaces that sat around her neck.

“Well, you see, um, miss. I was just on the run I really didn’t see you, I swear it!” Something about her just made Jake want to bury himself in the floor and never come back up again. Slowly he found his courage and asked, “But why were you in such a rush?”

“That’s none of your business! Ugh you’ve ruined everything,” she turned away, crossing her arms over her chest.

“My apologies,” the words were very quiet; he certainly hadn’t meant to offend this girl or interrupt whatever she had been doing previously. All he wanted was just not to get caught. By now the cop was probably gone, and nervously he checked his watch. A half hour before work? He’d never make it in time at this rate! Impatiently he started to make for the door when the girl stopped him.

“And just where do you think you’re going!” she snapped.

“Well, you see, I have work so…” Jake tried to explain, indicating that he really needed to leave. The girl seemed to pout, puffing out her cheeks before answering.

“Right, I’m sure. But since you got me into this mess you have to help me get out of it,” she said promptly and Jake’s heart sank. What… How in the world was he supposed to help a girl he knew absolutely nothing about? She seemed really rich or at least very important. This girl seemed to read his mind and motioned with a perfectly manicured hand to another door. “Here’s what we’re going to do, I need you to go out that door first and tell me if the coast is clear. If it is that’s good, we’re going to make a run for the building just across the way there and if anyone sees you just keep running that’s good. I need you to be a distraction.” Jake didn’t even get a chance to ask why he had to be a distraction as the long haired girl had already started speaking again.

“Oh, and take this,” she reached into her back pocket, handing Jake what looked to be a solid gold business card, soon a small notepad was also grabbed from her pocket and a pen where she scribbled down an address to go with it, “I heard that this has become a huge thing down in the outer rings, I hope you have fun!” Her personality was a little different from before and it seemed like she had already convinced herself that Jake was going to help her. A lady was asking him for his assistance in this case, it wasn’t like he could refuse, so, after a moment he took the address from her, squinting as he read the words in perfected cursive script. 

Desire Veranda  
25 Icarus St. SE.  
Becker, CA

Even as Jake read the address he didn’t have the slightest clue where it was. He knew there were a lot of fancy places with strange names like this one in the city, but this was something he’d never even heard of before. Something fun? He wondered what she could mean by that. He chose to look at the gold card closer, seeing that the words “Desire Veranda” were also etched into the surface with a quote on the back: “Opening a window to your wildest desires for ten years”.

The girl seemed to note the confusion on Jake’s face before explaining, “It’s a pass, for one of my family’s Landscape buildings. You do know what those are right? It’s really fun! I used to go all the time.” A Landscape building! Jake’s eyes brightened as he looked at the miracle that had just dropped into his hand, excitement bubbling in the pit of his stomach. Seeming pleased at the change in Jake, the girl tapped his shoulder then, speaking again, “Now, we should get going. Time for you to hold up your end of the bargain!”

Stashing the card in a secure pocket with the address, Jake nodded. “Thank you,” he added, a bit sheepishly, but the girl just waved it off, the serious look returning to her face. Whoever she was, she was extremely important to give him one of these, and so casually! It was then Jake realized he had neglected to ask her for her name, but the girl was already ushering for him to make way on her plan, holding a finger to her lips to tell him to be quiet.

He could certainly try to distinguish her identity later, for now he headed to the door where the girl was at, opening it and popping his head outside. It seemed clear enough. Cautiously he took a step outside, then another, and another before he deemed it clear, flashing a thumbs up at the girl behind him. She smiled in return and Jake smiled back a little, feeling a little sheepish suddenly. How’d he get stuck doing this again? Suddenly a noise distracted him and before he could look to see what it was he took off at a sprint. All of what he’d gotten out of would be for naught if he was caught now. He just hoped the girl had gotten away as he ran until he couldn’t run anymore.

Breathing heavily he turned his head to finally look back; it looked like he was finally safe. Pulling out the paper from his pocket he read the address again. Hm…there wasn’t a chance he could check it out right now; after all he had to go to work- He panicked at the thought looking at his watch, ten minutes left before he had to clock in! And he still had no idea where he was… Turning over the piece of paper he noticed more words were written down.

Hey, you said you have work, right? You really don’t know where you’re going, so I’ll help you out! A miniature map was doodled in the corner and Jake could make out that his factory was actually pretty close! He could make it if he ran. Stuffing the paper back into its secure spot next to the gold business card he tore off in the direction he was sure he had to go in, silently thanking the girl for her helpfulness. It seemed like things were finally looking up for Jake, and the entire way he ran he smiled.


End file.
